PPOA President Appointed to LA County Public Safety Commission

October 25, 2017

PPOA President Brian Moriguchi has been appointed to the newly-formed Los Angeles County Blue Ribbon Commission on Public Safety. The establishment of this commission was prompted by the murder of Whittier Police Department Officer Keith Boyer at the hands of a recently paroled gang member.

Moriguchi was appointed by County Supervisor Janice Hahn. “Lt. Moriguchi will bring the important perspective of law enforcement to the Blue Ribbon Commission,” Hahn said. “His years of personal experience give him the ability to discern what will work and what won’t while the commission examines creative solutions to keep our communities and our law enforcement officers safe.”

The 27-member panel will review categories of violent crime that are eligible for parole and look at policies that allow probation to be revoked. It will also be tasked with tracking “very high risk” probationers, misdemeanor offenders with the highest recidivism rates and the rate of re-offense for everyone released under recent reform laws. Those reforms are Assembly Bill 109, passed in 2011; Proposition 47, passed in 2014; and Proposition 57, approved in 2016 but not yet fully implemented. Those measures shifted public safety responsibilities from the state to counties, downgraded some property and drug felonies to misdemeanors, and allowed for the early release of some inmates, respectively.